' 1404 
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lopy 1 



SPEECH w 



OF 






A H 

OF VIRGINIA, 



ON 



THE MISSION TO PANAMA. 

DELIVERED 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

..lO 

£fje smut* Stattg, 

APRIL 6, 1826. 



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WASHINGTON : 

?BIH1EJ> AT TBI COLUMBIAN »TAR OTTICS. 

1836. 



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The House being in Committee of the whole, on the following 
*esolution, reported by the Committee of Foreign Relations. 

"Resolved., That, in the opinion of the House, it is expedient to 
appropriate the funds necessary to enable the President of the Unit- 
ed States to send Ministers to the Congress of Panama.'' 

The amendment offered by Mr. M'Lane, of Delaware, being also 
before the Committee, in the following words : 

" It being understood, as the opinion of this House, that, as it has 
always been the settled policy of this Government, in extending our 
commercial relations with foreign nations, to have with them as 
little political connexion as possible, to preserve peace, commerce, 
and friendship, with all nations, and to form entangling alliances 
with none : the Ministers who may be sent shall attend the said 
Congress in a diplomatic character merely ; and shall not be author- 
ized to discuss, consider or consult upon any proposition of alliance, 
offensive or defensive, between this country and any of the Spanish 
American Governments, or any stipulation, compact, or declaration, 
binding the United States in any way or to any extent, to resist in- 
terference from abroad with the domestic concerns of the aforesaid 
Governments, or any measure which shall commit the present or 
future neutral rights or duties of these United States, either as may 
regard European nations, or between the several States of Mexico 
and South America; leaving the United States free to adopt, in any 
event which may happen, affecting the relations of the Spanish 
American Governments, with each other, or with foreign nations, 
such measures as the friendly disposition, cherished by the Ameri- 
can People, towards the People of those States, and the honour and 
interest of this nation may dictate." 

And Mr. Rives, of Virginia, having moved to amend the amend- 
ment of Mr. M'Lane, by inserting the following, after the words 
" aforesaid governments," where those words occur, in the the 12th 
13th lines ; 

" Or any compact or engagement by which the United States 
shall be pledged to the Spanish American States, to maintain, by 
force, the principle, that no part of the American continent is hence- 
forward subject to colonization by any European power" — 

Mr. Rives, of Virginia, rose, and said, he was admonished, by 
every consideration of a personal nature, to abstain from any parti- 
cipation in the present discussion. No one could be more sensi- 
ble than himself how little ability he possessed, at any time, to assist 
the deliberations of this House, and that ability, small as it was at 
all times, was now materially lessened by the effects of long continued 
infirmity. Nevertheless, he was urged, by an impulse which he 



could not resist, to say something 1 upon the present occasion. The 

motive of public men, for the part they shall act in reference to this 
subject, have been and will be drawn into question. While, on the 
one hand, servility and subservience may be attributed to those who 
shall support the measure, (he was not aware that such an imputa- 
tion had been made, and he was, certainly, very far from making it 
himself,) on the other hand, we know that those who cannot bring 
their minds to approve it, in all the latitude of its various objects, 
have been accused of being actuated by a spirit of factious ofifiosU 
Hon to the present administration. This consideration naturally 
made one desirous of placing his opinions, and the grounds of them, 
before the world, that they might speak for themselves, and that it 
might be seen that they have, at least, a sufficient foundation, in rea~ 
son, to exempt them from the suspicion of originating in personal 
and unworty motives. But, this is not all. The subject itself is 
one of the deepest interest. No question has arisen, in my opinion, 
(said Mr. R.) since we assumed our equal rank among the nations 
of the earth, not excepting the late declaration of war against Great 
Britain, fearful and momentous as that was, which involves more 
important consequences to the peace, happiness, and free political 
institutions of this country. The measure proposed is an acknow- 
ledged departure from the uniform and settled policy pursued by 
this Government in times past — a policy, in the observance of which 
we have reaped the most abundant fruits of prosperity and honour. 
It seeks to introduce a new system in the conduct and adjustment of 
our foreign relations. While we profess to cultivate " peace, com- 
merce, and honest friendship," with all nations, this system pro- 
poses to connect us, by ties of a more intimate and fraternal charac- 
ter, with the nations of one-half of the globe, by which we are to be 
segregated from, and in a manner, arrayed against those of the other 
half; by which we are to make common cause with the former, in 
the defence of their new-born and yet precarious independence ; and, 
in short, to identify our interests, and unite our destinies with theirs. 
If this be the true character of the measure now under considera- 
tion, and, in my conscience, I most solemnly believe that it is, it be- 
comes us to weigh it well before we give it the irrevocable sanction 
of our votes in this Hall. That we have the right thus freely to 
deliberate upon it, has not yet been ofienly questioned in the pro- 
gress of this discussion; but the idea has been suggested, in con- 
versation that, as the Constitution has confided to the President and 
Senate the power of making appointments, and as Ministers to Pa- 
na i.a have been appointed by them, we have no longer any discre- 
tion upon the subject, but are bound to make the appropriations 
necessary for defraying the expenses of the mission. Such, sir, is 
not the doctrine of the President himself, who has shown no dispo- 
sition to concede, with too much facility, powers to other depart- 
ments of the Government, in derogation of his own. In his message, 
both to this House and the Senate, he submits the subject to the 
" e determination" of the Legislature Neither was this the doc- 
trine of this House, in '96, when these seats were filled with some of 
the wisest men who have adorned any portion of our annals. On 



that occasion, the House of Representatives, in a much more doubt- 
ful case — in the case of a treaty, which had been duly ratified — af- 
firmed their right, in the freest and fullest manner, to grantor with- 
hold an appropriation of money, or any other act necessary to carry 
the treaty into effect. A treaty is a mutual and solemn contract be- 
tween two fiartxes : and, when it has been consummated, with all the 
forms prescribed by the Constitution, there is plausibility, at least, 
in contending, that it binds the faith of the nation, and is obligatory 
upon all the authorities of the Government. But the appointment 
of ministers is an act confined to one party only, inferring no obliga- 
tion to any other : and there can be no ground for saying, that the 
faith of the nation is pledged by it. But, sir, why need I dwell upon 
this objection -? Have we been engaged in a solemn farce for the last 
two months ? Wherefore have we repeated call after call, upon the 
Executive for information, and received from the Executive com- 
munication after communication in relation to this subject, if not to 
enable us to decide, whether we would or would not grant the appro- 
priation which has been asked of us ? Did it need all this prepara- 
tion to qualify us for an act which we were bound, in any event, to 
perform ? was it proper, on the one part, to ask, or, on the other, to 
give so much light, if we were compelled, blindly and implicitly, to 
sanction the measure proposed ? 

Although I cannot suppose, therefore, that this objection will be 
seriously insisted on, yet, one of a similar character has been earn- 
estly pressed by the gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. Webster) -•' 
who addressed the Committee two days ago. He contended, that 
the amendment of the gentleman from Delaware was an irregular 
interference with the Executive authority, in attempting to give in- 
structions to our Ministers. Sir, the amendment, seeks U> give no 
instructions. It is simply an expression of the opinion of this House 
respecting certain objects supposed to be contemplated by the mis- 
sion to Panama. What, sir, is the case?'The President asks of us an 
appropriation of money, to carry into effect a measure admitted to 
be novel and unprecedented in its character, and, for the purpose of 
recommending it to our favour, he states various objects, which he 
deems to be of high interest to the nation, proposed to be attained 
by it. We consider some of these objects to be inexpedient, and 
dangerous to the peace of the country, while others among them may 
be of such a character as to justify the adoption of the measure. In 
granting the funds, therefore, necessary for carrying the measure 
into effect, we undertake to declare our opinion, that, in its execution^ 
it ought not to be extended to those objects which we have thus de- 
cided to be incompatible with the interests of the nation. Now, sir, 
is there any improper assumption of power in this ? The objection 
presupposes that we may withhold the appropriation of money alto- 
gether.if we choose - t or, in other words, that we may decide the mis- 
sion to be inexpedient, in reference to all its objects. But if we may 
pronounce all its objects,to be inexpedient, we may surely pronounce 
some of them to be so. The greater power necessarily includes the 
less. 

But the same gentleman objects again to the amendment, that it 



amounts to a conditional grant. The honourable mover disclaims alt 
intention of introducing his amendment into the appropriation bill, 
or annexing it in the nature of a condition to the grant of the funds 
asked for. Sir, I care not for form. For myself, I am free to say, 
that I should consider the adoption of the amendment, in moral ef- 
fect at least, as a conditional grant, and that if the President employs 
the funds thus placed at his disposal, he ought not to use them for 
purposes inconsistent with the declared views of those who granted 
them. There is nothing revolting to my mind in the idea of a 
conditional grant. It is admitted by the gentleman from Massa- 
chusets that we have the right to grant or withhold the appropria- 
tion, at our discretion. If so, we may certainly impose what lim- 
itations we think proper upon our grant. Cujus est dare, ejus est 
disfionere. 

But, Sir, there seems to me to be a peculiar propriety resulting 
from the character of this subject, and the constitutional relation in 
which we stand to it, in the freest expression of our opinions, re- 
gardless of all form. It is not unfrequently said, and has been re- 
peated in the course of this discussion, that the Constitution has 
confided to the President and Senate, the control of our foreign af- 
fairs. Sir, there cannot be a greater mistake than this. The most 
important question connected with our foreign relations, the ques- 
tion of peace or war, is wholly subject to the determination of the 
Legislative Department, of which this House is not the least promi- 
nent branch. Upon all measures, therefore, involving this question, 
however remotely, it is our right and our duty to deliberate, and to 
decide with unrestrained freedom. Now, Sir, what is the charac- 
ter of the proposed mission to Panama? Some of its objects, as I 
hope to show in the progress of my remarks, have a direct aspect 
to a state of war, upon the occurrence of certain contingencies. In 
regard to these, we should renounce our highest constitutional privi- 
lege and betray our most solemn constitutional trust, were we not to 
speak out boldly and without reserve. 

But our confidence in the Executive is invoked, and we are asked, 
why not trust the President on this, as on other occasions, to employ 
the means which we may put at his disposal, for the best interests 
of the nation ? Sir, this is not an ordinary case ; it calls not for con- 
fidence, but for the independent exercise of our own judgments. In 
ordinary cases, when the President wants the means of carrying into 
effect any measure within the province of the Executive Depart- 
ment, he asks us for an appropriation of money for the purpose, in 
general terms, and we grant it without further inquiry. But here, 
the measure being novel and extraordinary, he accompanies his ap- 
plication for the means, with a detail of his reasons for the adoption 
of the measure itself, and the various objects he proposes to accom- 
plish by it. It becomes then an appeal to our understandings, upon 
the sufficiency of those reasons, and the propriety and expediency 
of the objects contemplated. If we agree with the President in his 
views, we grant the means, not upon confidence, but upon previous 
consideration and approval. If we differ with him, we withhold the 
means, because we cannot approve the measure. A demand of con- 
f-rirvrr in relation to any Executive measure, can be fairly urged only 



when we are unapprised of the specific views and intentions with 
which that measure is undertaken. If those views and intentions 
are disclosed, we must first decide upon them, before we can decide 
upon the measure itself. I disclaim, sir, all feelings of violent jeal- 
ousy and distrust toward the Executive ; on the contrary, in a pro- 
per casej I would go as far as any man ought to go, on the principle 
of even a liberal confidence in the Executive, in regard to all mea- 
sures falling within the constitutional sphere of that department of 
the Government. I believe, sir, in the language of a great man, 
who once presided in that Department, that a certain degree of con* 
iidence is necessary " to give firmness and effect to the legal admin- 
istration of our affairs." Upon this principle, if the measure now 
under consideration, unprecedented as it is, had come before us in 
the form of a naked recommendation, depending upon Executive 
responsibility alone, I might have been induced to concur in afford- 
ing the means necessary for its execution, without further inquiry. 
But presented to us as it is, with an explicit avowal of its objects, 
some of which we believe to be dangerous to the peace and highest 
interests of the nation — under these circumstances, to ask of us an 
unqualified; grant of the means necessary for its execution, is to ask r 
not a relinquishment merely, but a sacrifice of our judgments — not 
confidence in others, but treachery to ourselves and our country. 

In deciding the question submitted to us, then, we must dismiss 
all extraneous considerations, and look exclusively to the intrinsic 
merits of the measure itself, or, in other words, to the character 
of the objects proposed to be accomplished by it. So many and 
such various objects have been suggested, as the motives of this ex- 
traordinary measure, that the mind is bewildered, and lost in confu- 
sion, amid their multiplicity ; and it is exceedingly difficult to fix 
the attention long enough upon any one of them, to estimate its pre- 
cise bearing on the general proposition. But, in reviewing them 
again and again, my attention has been forcibly arrested by two, of a 
character so portentous to the peace and happiness of the country, 
that were all the rest not only innocent and safe, but in the highest 
degree useful and important, I could not lend my concurrence to the 
measure, while they continued to be embraced within its scope. The 
two objects alluded to, are resistence to the interference of any third 
power in the quarrel between Spain and her late colonies, and oppo- 
sition to all future colonization on either continent of America. So 
general seems to be the impression of the danger and inexpediency 
of commuting ourselves, in relation to these topics, that the consid- 
eration of the propriety of the Mission to Panama, with a large ma- 
jority of persons, has assumed the shape of an inquiry whether we 
are likely to be so committed — 720? whether we ought to be. — Some oi 
the friends of the mission earnestly deny that there is any reason to 
apprehend that we shall be committed upon these topics, by any thing 
proposed to be done at Panama, while others, who have more care- 
fully explored the evidence, observe a discreet silence upon the sub- 
ject. Although these topics evidently constituted the original in- 
ducement, the primum mobile of the invitation given us to attend 
ihe Congress at Panama, yet, in the elaborate report of the Commit* 
ice of Foreign Relations, there is not the slightest allusioii-to thenv. 



8 

Tn the Message of the President, although alluded to, they are over- 
laid and smothered by other matter; and there is a manifest shyness 
in approaching them, on this floor. 

How it has happened that these objects, which originally stood in 
the front of the picture, have been thus shifted to the back ground, 
where they are almost lost in the obscurity of the distance, it is not 
forme to exph.iii ; but believing that they are all important in giving 
its true character and expression to the piece, I shall bring them for- 
ward, in full relief, to their proper position upon the canvass. I 
shall undertake to prove, from an examination of the documents in 
our possession, that, if Ministers are sent to the Congress at Pana- 
ma, our Government is committed to take part in its deliberations, 
relating to these objects — that they are the principal, if not the only 
objects, in which our participation was sought, by the States who 
invited our attendance — and that the result of our participation in 
them will most probably be the adoption of measures endangering 1 
the future peace of the country. In the prosecution of this plan, it 
will be beside my purpose to inquire, how far a Congress, which has 
the power to "fix" and "determine" the respective military and na- 
val contingents, or their equivalents, which are to be furnished by- 
parties engaged in a common war, which has too, the farther power 
of " interpreting the treaties" that may be made, and of " arbitrating 
the differences" that may arise among those parties, can be justly 
denominated a diplomatic meeting, or a consultative body, merely. 
Whether the Congress be sovereign or consultative, legislative or 
diplomatic, still the objects I have indicated are to be acted upon by 
it, and in a manner exposing the peace of the nation to the most se- 
rious hazards. Nor shall I inquire how far it is consistent with our 
professions of neutrality, in the existing war between Spain and her 
late colonies, to take part in the proceedings of a Congress, which 
has evidently grown out of the exigencies of that war, and the avow- 
ed and leading object of which is to combine the resources, and to 
unite the efforts of the belligerents on one side, in a more vigorous 
prosecution of it — a Congress, too, whose occasional secret sittings, 
as they would afford a convenient cover for our participation in its 
hostile deliberations, might well excite suspicions as to the good faith 
with which we observed our declaration, not to share in its counsels 
of that character. I shall also forbear to consider any of the various 
objects, other than those I have already referred to, which have been 
suggested as proper for our joint consultations in the Congress of 
Panama. All those objects, in my opinion, have been shown to be 
useless, impertinent, mischievous, impracticable, or attainable, with 
equal advantage, in the usual mode of diplomatic negotiation. It 
will be sufficient for my purpose, if I establish the propositions I have 
undertaken to maintain, in relation to the two prominent objects (so 
far as we are concerned) of the Congress at Panama, found in the 
means of resisting the interference of any third power, in the war 
between Spain and the Southern Republics,' and the mode of oppo- 
sing colonization on either continent of America. 

My first proposition is. that, if we send ministers to the Congress 
of Panama, our Government stands committed to take part in its de- 
liberations relating to these objects. Now, sir, to determine this 



point, let us refer to the terms of the invitation, addressed to U3, am* 
the terms of its acceptance. It will be recollected by the committee, 
that the ministers of Mexico and Colombia, justly doubting how fa 1 
it would consist with the policy heretofore pursued by our Govern 
ment to accept an invitation to the Congress at Panama, previous!, 
consulted the Secretary of State, to know whether "it would be 
agreeable or not to the United States to receive such an invitation.'' 
The delicacy which marked the conduct of these ministers is highly 
honorable to them. Their object was to leave us unembarrassed 
by the consideration of the wishes or feelings of their Governments, 
and in a condition of perfect freedom, to decide according to out 
<Qivn -views of our «wn interests. The Secretary of State informed them 
that the President believed, that the proposed Congress might be 
highly useful in several respects, but thought it expedient to adjust 
beforehand certain preliminary points, such as u the subjects to which 
the attention of the Congress was to be directed,"' and some other mat- 
ters of a similar character; and added, that, if these points could be 
arranged in a manner satisfactory to the United States, the Presi- 
dent would be disposed to accept the proffered invitations. For the 
purpose of satisfying this requisition, more particularly as it re- 
garded the subjects of deliberation in the proposed Congress, the 
Mexican and Colombian Ministers addressed to Mr. Clay their re- 
pective letters of the 2d and 3d of November. What, sir, does the 
Mexican Minister say? The following extract from his letter will 
show : " The Government of the subscriber never supposed nor de- 
sired, that the United States of America would ake part in the Con- 
gress about to be held, in other matters than those, which, from their 
nature and importance, the late Administration pointed out and 
characterized as being of general interest to the Continent ; for which 
reason, one of the subjects which will occupy the attention of the 
Congress, will be the resistance or opposition to the interference of 
any neutral nation, in the question and war of independence, betweeij 
the new Powers of the Continent and Spain. The Government oi 
the undersigned apprehends, that, as the powers of America are of 
accord as to resistance, it behoves them to discuss the means of giving 
to that resistance all possible force, that the evil may be met, if it 
cannot be avoided ; and the only means of accomplishing this object: 
is, by a previous concert as to the mode in which each of them shall 
lend its co-operation; for otherwise, resistance would operate but 
partially, and in a manner much less certain and effective. The op- 
position to colonization in America, by the European Powers, will 
be another of the questions which may be discussed, and which is in 
iike predicament with the foregoing. After these two firinci/ia/ 
subjects, the Representatives of the United States of America may be 
occupied upon others, to which the existence of the new States ma; 
give rise : and which it is not easy to point out or enumerate ; for 
which the Government of the United States of Mexico will give in 
structions, and ample powers to its Commissioners, and it trusts 
that those from the other powers may bear the same." And again— 
" To which end, and in compliance with the tenor of the converse 
tions held with the honorable Secretary of State, the underwritten. 
Minister Plenipotentiary, invites this Government to send Repres; . 



1W 

tatives to the Congress ol* Panama, with authorities as aforesaid, antf 
with express instructions in their credentials upon the two principal 
questions ; in which step he is likewise joined by the Minister of Co- 
lombia, and with which he trusts he has fulfilled all that wasstipu 
lated to this end." Now, sir, let us see the language of Mr. Clay'e 
answer. He says, " The President has therefore resolved, should 
the Senate of the United States, now expected to assemble in a few 
days, give, their advice and consent to send Commissioners to the 
Congress of Panama. Whilst they will not be authorized to enter 
upon any deliberations, or to concur in any acts, inconsistent with 
the present neutral position of the United Slates, and its obligations, 
they will be fully empowered and instructed upon all questions likely 
to arise in the Congress on subjects in which the nations of America 
have a common interest" 

It will be remarked by the Committee, that the Mexican Minister, 
in his letter, had not only referred to the sentiment of the late Ad- 
ministration that the two topics of obtrusive interference in the ex- 
isting war, and colonization in America, were matters of common in- 
terest to both Continents, but had himself expressly characterized 
them as " subjects of general interest to all the American Powers.' 
Mr. Clay, in replying to his letter, and accepting the invitation it 
conveyed, tells him, " our Minister will be fully empowered and in- 
structed upon all questions likely to arise in the Congress, on sub- 
jects in which the nations of America have a common interest." By 
thus responding to the sentiment of the Mexican Minister, and adopt- 
ing the terms in which he had described these two subjects, Mr 
Clay, must be understood as referring to them as unequivocally, as 
if he had specifically named them. The promise of our Govern- 
ment, then, is here solemnly given, that our ministers will be au- 
thorized to act upon the two subjects I have mentioned. Mr. Clay's 
answer to the letter of the Colombian Minister, is not furnished ; but 
we are told it was " similar," to the one just read. In his answer 
to the letter of the Minister from Central America, he uses very 
nearly the same language, with one variation, however, which adds 
to the force of the argument I have urged. He tells this Minister 
that our representatives in the Congress will be empowered to act 
upon subjects in which the nations of America (not "have," which 
was his language to the Mexican Minister, but) " may be supposed 
to have" a common interest. It is thus., sir, I think, shown, beyond 
a doubt, that, if we send Ministers to the Congress of Panama, our 
Government is committed so far as the acts of the Executive can 
commit it, to take part in the deliberations of the Congress, upon 
the subjects of political interference, and attempted colonization, by 
the Powers of Europe. 

My next proposition is, that these subjects, however, or for what- 
ever reason they may have been kept out of sight recently, are the 
principal, if not the only subjects in which our participation was de-* 
sired by the States who invited our attendance at the Congress of 
Panama. In the extract I have already read to the committee, from 
the letter of the Mexican Minister, he expressly styles them the " two 
principal subjects" for consultation with the United States ; and in- 
deed they are the only subjects specified by him. It is true that the 



li 

Colombian Minister suggests, in a loose and general way, some other 
subjects which might engage the attention of the United States in 
the Congress of Panama. But he dwells on these two with particular 
and emphatic earnestness, as " points of great interest," and "of 
immediate utility to the American States that are at war with Spain," 
and strongly appeals to the co-operation of this Government in rela- 
tion to them. 

I will now proceed to show that there is every reason to believe, 
from what has already passed between our Government and the 
Spanish American States, that the result of our participation in 
these subjects at the Congress of Panama, will be the adoption of 
measures endangering the future peace of the country. Sir, the 
principle of resistance by force, is already agreed upon. Nothing 
remains but to adjust the details connected with its execution, and to 
consummate the understanding which has already taken place by en- 
tering into a formal compact. In the very pregnant extract from 
the letter of the Mexican Minister, to which I have already had oc- 
casion twice to refer, he says, "as the powers of America are of ac- 
cord as to resistance" it behoves them " to discuss the means of 
of giving to that resistance all possible/orcf," and to determine by a 
" previous concert, in what mode each party is to lend its co-opera- 
tion ;" and we are invited to the Congress at Panama for the pur- 
pose of entering upon this " discussion," and arranging the terms of 
this " concert," or system of" co-operation." Now let us see what 
the Colombian Minister says : " The manner in which all coloniza- 
tion of European powers on the American continent shall be resisted, 
and their interference in the present contest between Spain and her 
former colonies prevented, are other points of great interest. Were 
it proper, an eventual alliance, in case these events should occur, 
which is within the range of possibilities, and the treaty, of which no 
use should be made until the casus fcsderis should happen, to remain 
secret; or if this should seem premature, a convention so anticipated 
would be different means to secure the same end of preventing 
foreign influence. This is a matter of immediate utility to the Ameri- 
can States that are at war with Spain, and is in accordance with the 
repeated declarations and protests of the cabinet at Washington. The 
conferences held on this subject being confidential, vould increase 
mutual friendship, and promote the respective interests of the par- 
ties." The Secretary of State, in his answer to these letters, does 
not express any dissent from the propositions or statements con- 
tained in them ; from which I will not argue, although I might do 
so with great plausibility, that he is to be considered as asse?iting to 
the particular measure of policy, suggested in the extract last read. 
But this I do contend for ; that, so far as those letters undertake to 
state matters of fact, the omission of the Secretary to qualify or deny, 
is a full admission of them. It is a rule of familiar application, in 
the investigation of evidence in private controversies, that whatever 
is affirmed by one party, in the presence of the other, and not denied, 
is considered as admitted by the latter, and has all the effect of a 
positive confession against him. Now what is this case ? The Mexi- 
can Minister says, in his letter to Mr. Clay, " The powers ©f 



12 

America," (including the United States, of course,) " are of accord 
as to resistance." The Colombian Minister, after suggesting a par- 
ticular measure to secure the joint efforts of the parties in this 
resistance, says, " This is in accordance with the repeated declaration* 
and protests of the cabinet at Washington." Mr. Clay does not gain- 
say either of these assertions, and does, therefore, in effect, admit 
them to be true. 

But, sir, we have direct and positive evidence upon this subject, 
under the hand of the Secretary himself. In our diplomatic inter- 
course with the Spanish American States, he has treated and held 
out to them certain vague and oracular expressions in a message of 
the late President, as a pledge, on the part of the United States, not 
to permit any interference of the European Powers in the war between 
them and the mother country. When, during the last Summer, a 
French fleet appeared in the West Indies, with the supposed design 
of taking possession of the Islands of Cuba and Porto Rico, and an 
appeal was made to us by those States to interpose in their behalf, 
Mr. Clay recurred to this " memorable pledge" as he expressly 
calls it, and in fulfilment and practical recognition of it as a pledge 
in fact, he wrote to Mr. Brown, our Minister to France, instructing 
him to say to that Government, that we " could not consent to the 
occupation of those Islands by any European power other than 
Spain, under any contingency whatever." He afterwards commu- 
nicated a copy of this letter to Mr. Poinsett, our Minister to Mexico, 
and authorized him to read it to the functionaries of that Government: 
as an interpretation of our policy towards the States of Spanish 
America, and " what we were prepared to do" in their behalf. If 
this proceeding does not commit the Executive of the United States, 
(so far as they have power to decide the question,) to the point of 
••esistance, upon the happening of a certain event, I am utterly at a 
lps.s to conceive what could have such an effect. 

We have heretofore seen that our Minister to Mexico, acting un- 
der the authority of, and in presumed obedience to, the Secretary of 
otate, had stated to that Government, " that the United States had 
pledged themselves not to permit any third power to interfere either 
with the independence or form of Government of the new States." 
But we are now told by the Secretary that the " United States have 
made no such pledge ;" or, as he explains himself, have " contracted 
•,io engagement" to that effect. Sir, I never supposed that any treaty 
bad been entered into with these States, by which we were bound to 
maintain their independence ; and this is all that the assertion of the 
Secretary of State amounts to. It does not contradict the idea that 

tjicial declarations have been made, and formal assurances of support 
given to these governments in the name of the United States. Sir, 

t is impossible for any man to examine the documents before us with 
impartial eye, and disguise from himself the fact, that it is a thing 

■ rfctly understood and agreed between the diplomatic functionaries 
■ if this and the Spanish American Governments, that all America is 
to make a common cause in maintaining, by force, the doctrines of a 

lew public code, which Mr. Clay, (feeling that new things require 

w names,) calls'' inter-continental," not inter-national, "law;" and 

the purpose for which we are summoned to the Congress of Panama,, 



13 

is to carry this understanding into effect, by entering into formal con- 
ventional stipulations upon the subject. 

Now, Sir, let us inquire what will probably be the nature and effect 
of these stipulations, as regards the United States. We have seen 
that one of the Spanish American Ministers has suggested an "even- 
tual alliance, to be kept secret until the casus feeder is occurs," as pro- 
per to be adopted. Another, without pointing out any particular/brnz 
of agreement, insists, in general, upon the propriety of adopting 
some " previous concert," or plan of " co-operation." Let us now 
see what are the views of our own Government upon this subject; 
and for that purpose, I beg leave to read to the Committee the follow- 
ing extract from the message of the President to this House. He says, 
" The late President of the United States, in his Message to Congress 
of the 2d of December, 1823, while announcing the negotiation then 
pending with Russia, relating to the Northwest Coast of this conti- 
nent, observed, that the occasion of the discussion to which that inci- 
dent had given rise, had been taken for asserting as a principle, in 
which the rights and interests of the United States were involved, 
that the American continents, by the free and independent condition 
which they had assumed and maintained, were thenceforward not to 
be considered as subjects for future colonization, by any European 
Power. The principle had first been assumed in that negotiation with 
Russia. It rested upon a course of reasoning equally simple and con- 
clusive. With the exception of the existing European colonies, which 
it was in no wise intended to disturb, the two continents consisted of 
several sovereign and independent nations, whose territories covered 
their whole surface. By this, their independent condition, the United 
States enjoyed the right of commercial intercourse with every part 
of their possessions. To attempt the establishment of a colony in 
those possessions, would be to usurp, to the exclusion of others, a 
commercial intercourse which was the common possession of all. It 
could not be done without encroaching upon existing rights of the. 
United States. The Government of Russia has never disputed these 
positions, nor manifested the slightest dissatisfaction at their having 
been taken. Most of the new American Republics have declared 
their entire assent to them ; and they now propose, among the sub- 
jects of consultation at Panama, to take into consideration the means 
of making effectual the assertion of that principle, as well as the 
means of resisting interference from abroad, with the domestic con- 
cerns of the American Governments. In alluding to these means, it 
would obviously be premature at this time to anticipate that which is 
offered merely as matter for consultation ; or to pronounce upon those 
measures which have been, or may be suggested. The purpose of this 
Government is to concur in none which would import hostility to Eu- 
rope, orjustly excite resentment in any of her States. Shuuldit be ad- 
visable to contract any conventional engagement on this topic, our views 
would extend no further than to a mutual pledge of the parties to the 
compact to maintain the principle in application to its own territory, 
and to permitno colonial lodgements or establishment of European ju- 
risdiction upon its own soil ; and, with respect to the obtrusive interfe- 
rence from abroad, if its future character may be inferred from that 
ivhich has been, and perhaps still is exercised in more than one of the 



14 

new States, a joint declaration of its character, and exposure of it to 
the world, may be probably all that the occasion would require. 
Whether the United States should or should not be parties to such a 
declaration, may justly form a part of the deliberation. That there 
is an evi! to be remedied, needs little insight into the secret history of 
late years to know, and that this remedy may best be concerted at the 
Panama meeting, deserves at least the experiment of consideration." 

Now, sir, although this passage is conceived in the true spirit of 
diplomatic reserve, it contains suggestions which, in my opinion, are 
full of danger. What does the President here propose, as proper to 
be done at Panama, upon the subject of colonization ? The formation 
of a " compact," by which each party shall be " pledged to main- 
tain the principle, in application to its own territory,'" The Presi- 
dent cannot be understood to mean any thing so nugatory and de- 
grading to the character of the nation as a solemn stimulation, by 
which we are to bind ourselves to other fiarties, to defend our acknow- 
ledged territorial limits from violation and encroachment. He must 
mean something other and more than this. He must mean, at the 
least, that the parties to the proposed compact are to be mutually 
pledged to maintain the principle, in reference to all the territories 
respectively claimed by them. It might, indeed, be well supposed, 
(as he assumes, in a preceding part of the passage quoted, that 
the « territories" of the United States and of the Spanish American 
States « cover the whole surface" of both continents, « with the excep- 
tion of that portion occupied by existing European colonies only,") 
that he meant to give to the proposed pledge a corresponding exten- 
sion. But, with the utmost restriction of its meaning which it 
would be consistent with a due respect for the President to make the 
pledge proposed by him, must be understood as intended to operate 
to the extent of all the territories respectively claimed by the 
parties to the compact. This renders it necessary to inquire, for a 
moment, into the state of our territorial rights on the Northwest 
coast of America, which has been so long the subject of conflicting 
claims and discordant negotiations. As the amendment which I have 
had the honor to offer to the proposition of the gentleman from Dela- 
ware, refers to this subject, and as the Committee have not had oc- 
casion to turn their attention particularly to it, I hope I shall be ex- 
cused for some little detail in relation to it. 

The United States claim the whole of the country on that coast 
between the 42d and the 51st parallel of north latitude, by a title 
which they have always held to be unquestionable — the prior disco- 
very of the Columbia river by one of their own citizens. They also 
formerly claimed the whole country from the 51st to the 60th degree 
of north latitude, but upon a different and inferior ground. The 
foundation of our claim to this portion of the Northwest coast was 
the title of Spain, derived to us under the treaty of 1819, which title, 
although not complete in itself, we contended was superior to thai 
of any other nation. We have since relinquished our claim to a 
portion of this country, in favour of Russia, and the boundary be- 
tween us and the Russian settlements, is now, I understand, perma- 
nently fixed, by a convention, at about the 54th parallel of north lat- 



id 

ittide, leaving our claims to the country between that and the 5 1 s t 
degree, as founded upon the alleged Spanish title, in statu quo. 
Great Britain controverts our claim to various portions of this ter- 
ritory, as well between the 42d and the 51st degree of north lati- 
tude, where we have considered our title complete and unquestiona- 
ble, as between the 51st and 54th degrees, where our title, though 
not complete in itself, is, as we have alledged,superior to that of any 
other nation. She has actual settlements and trading establish- 
ments, within these limits ; and sustains her claim to the country 
by alleged prior discovery, and continued and uninterrupted occu- 
pation, and upon grounds so plausible, at least, as to have occasion- 
ed a difference of opinion in a committee of this House, in relation 
to the validity of our claims in their full extent. This controversy 
is now, and has been, for many years, the subject of negotiation be- 
tween the two Governments. 

In this state of things, is it, I ask, safe, or prudent, or wise, for us 
to enter into a compact with the Spanish American States, to main- 
tain a principle, which may bring us at once into hostile collision 
with the most powerful nation in the world ? The President takes 
occasion to tell us, that the " Government of Russia has never dis- 
puted the positions we have asserted upon this subject, nor mani- 
fested the slightest dissatisfaction at their having been taken." He 
does not think proper to tell us how they have been received by the 
Government of Great Britain. Permit me, sir, to supply his emis- 
sion. In a letter from Mr. Rush, while Minister 1 in London, to the 
President himself, then Secretary to State, he says, u It is proper 
now, as on the question of the St. Lawrence, that I should give you 
faithful information of the manner in which the British Plenipoten- 
tiaries received my proposal, and the principles under which I had 
introduced it. I may set out, by saying, in a word, that they totally 
declined the one, and totally denied the other. They said that Great 
Britain considered the whole of the unoccupied parts of America, as 
being open to her future settlements in like manner as heretofore. 
They included within these parts, as well that portion of the North- 
west coast, lying between the 42d and 51st degrees of latitude, as 
any other parts. The principle of colonization on that coast, or 
elsewhere, on any portion of those continents, not yet occupied, 
Great Britain was not prepared to relinquish : neither was she pre- 
pared to accede to the exclusive claim of the United States." In 
.another part of the same letter, Mr. Rush says, " Such is a summa- 
ry of the grounds taken at the very outset by the British Plenipoten- 
tiaries, in opposition to our claims. On my remarking immediate- 
ly, and before proceeding to any discussion of them, that I had not 
before been aware of the extent and eharacterof all these objections, 
they replied, that it was also, for the first time, that they had been 
apprized, in any authentic and full way, of the nature of the claims, 
as I had now stated them, on behalf of the United States; claims 
which they said, they were bound to declare, at once, Great Britain 
was wholly unprepared to admit ; and especially that which aimed at 
interdicting herfrom the right of future colonization in America."' 
In the protocol of the conference between Mr. Rush and the British 
Plenipotentiaries, upon this ^subject, their dissent from the princi- 



10 

pics advanced by us, is still more strongly stated. " The British 
Plenipotentiaries, asserted in utter de?iial of the above principle, that 
they consider the unoccupied parts of America just as much open 
as heretofore, to colonization by Great Britain, as well as by ocher 
European powers." 

Now, sir, seeing how earnestly our presensions upon this subject 
are contested by the British Government, does it not become us to 
pause, before we enter into a compact, by which we shall be bound 
to maintain them, at whatever hazard or expense ? Is the hostility 
of Great Britain, a war, even with her, so light a thing, that we are 
to rush into it, not only without "counting the cost," but without 
bestowing a thought on the justice of our cause? II", according to 
the political chivalry of the day, we are to " take counsel," as the 
President tells us, " not of our fears, but of our rights ;" let us at least 
be satisfied of the existence of these rights, before we discard our feats. 
But so far as our territorial claims are made the foundation of the prin- 
ciple advanced by our Government, in relation to future coloniza- 
tion upon this continent, we have seen that these claims are not only 
controverted by others, but the subject of serious doubt, even among 
ourselves ; and our Minister in London seemed to recognize the 
weight of the objections urged against them, when he told the British 
Plenipotentiaries, that " he had not before been aware of the charac- 
ter and extent of all these objections." If the principle be attempted 
to be supported, upon any other ground, it is, in my opinion, wholly 
unsustainable, and is to be classed among those inventions of modern 
diplomacy, which are to be defended, not by the sword, but by the 
pen. But, sir, if we were most thoroughly satisfied of the justice of 
this principle, why should we commit ourselves to its support, by 
any compact with our South American neighbours ? We do not want 
their aid in defending our rights, and if we did, we should not ob- 
tain it by the compact proposed, as each party is to be pledged to 
maintain the principle, separately, in application to its own territo- 
ry. I trust, sir, I have shown to the satisfaction of the committee, 
the danger, and inexpediency of adopting the measure suggested by 
the President, upon the subject of colonization, and that they will 
not sanction the Mission to Panama, with reference to any such ob- 

i ect - 

Let us now see what he suggests, in reference to the subject of in- 
terference from abroad, with the affairs of Spanish America. "A 
joint declaration of its character, and exposure of it to the world t 
may be probably all that the occasion would require." The nature 
and effect of this proposition, deserves to be profoundly considered. 
Should the United States concur in such a declaration, in what situa- 
tion would the nation then stand ? Would they not be committed to 
support it by force? A declaration of the sort proposed, is no idle 
vaunt, no parade of words merely. It is a solemn appeal to the 
world, upon the justice of the cause which the parties have espouS' 
ed, and implies a firm determination to support it with all their ener- 
gies. How would wc, the war making power of the Government t 
stand, in relation to the subject? We are apprized, before hand, by 
the Executive, that such a declaration is among the objects of the 
mission to Panama, and with this knowledge, we giv« our unqualified 



17 

sanction to the mission. The proposed declaration goes forth to the 
World, and is not heeded by the powers, on whom it is intended to 
operate. Under these circumstances, would the honor of the nation 
admit of any retreat for us ? In short, sir, is not the declaration pro- 
posed a conditional^ or, to use more diplomatic phraseology, a provi- 
sional declaration of war, to take effect whensoever a certain event 
shall occur ? If so, I ask, is the mind of this nation finally made up 
to go to war for the independence of Spanish America? No gen- 
tleman, I presume, will say so. But even if it were, why should 
we proclaim this determination, beforehand, in such a manner as to 
preclude ourselves from the benefit of full and free deliberation, in 
regard to every circumstance of expediency* as well as justice, which 
ought to influence our decision, when the occasion may arrive. 

But, it may be said that there is no reason to apprenend the inter- 
ference, which it is proposed thus to denounce to the world. If this 
be so, then I say the denunciation is a species of bravado, which it 
does not become the dignity of this nation to engage in. If other- 
wise, we should pause, before we assume upon ourselves the fearful 
responsibilities it may involve. It is true that Mr. Clay, in a com- 
munication lately made to this House, tells us, " that apprehensions of 
interference have ceased ;" but, op the other hand, the President, in 
the portion of his message which I have read to the committee, speak- 
ing of the same matter, says, " that there is an evil to be remedied, 
needs little insight into the secret history of late years to know ; and 
that this remedy may best be concerted at the Panama meeting, de- 
serves at least the experiment of consideration." The minister of 
Colombia strongly corroborates this intimation of the President, and 
expresses a suspicion shat a covert interference has already taken 
place. In a letter of the 30th of December last, addressed by him 
to Mr. Clay, he says, " Spain, in spite of her nullity, does not cease 
in her efforts to augment the army of America, so far as to induce 
us to suspect that a foreign hand affords these aids, which are by no 
means in harmony with the scantiness of the resources of the Penin- 
sula." Now, sir, if we are to commit ourselves to go to war on be- 
half of the States of Spanish America, in the event of interference 
of a third power in the quarrel between them and Spain, the obliga- 
tion will depend, I presume, upon the fact, and not upon the form $ 
of interference. Whether that interference be by openly sending 
fleets and armies, to fight the battles of Spam, or by secretly furnish- 
ing the means with which those fleets and armies are procured and 
supported, the injury to our Southern friends will be the same, and 
the obligation upon us, to repel it, will consequently be the same. 

But sir, seeing the dangerous extent of the consequences involved 
in these measures suggested by the President, it may be said, he 
does not express a positive opinion that they ought or will be adopted 
at the Congress of Panama. Sir, they are evidently brought for- 
ward as the result of previous deliberation, and seem to be offered as 
substitutes for the projects which had been presented by the Spanish 
American Ministers. They must, therefore, have been duly weighed ; 
and, it is fair to presume, that the President would not have suggest- 
ed them at all, if he had not been prepared, on his part, for their 
adoption, or at least thought them entitled to the most favaurabU 



18 

consideration. That the President has made up his mind to cohctn 
ill these, or other measures, of an equivalent character, is farther 
manifested by a subsequent part of his message, in which he labours 
to show that the advice of General Washington, to "have, with 
foreign nation?, as little po!i'.ical connexion as possible," is inap- 
plicable to our relations with the States of this hemisphere. — Why 
should the President have made this attempt — (how he has succeeded 
in it, I hope hereafter to show) — unless his object was to form, with 
the nations alluded to, those, " political connexions," against which 
the advice of Washington was directed ? 

But a quietus is found for al! our apprehensions, in the assurances 
of the President, that " no alliances will be contracted," and, in 
general, that " nothing will be done incompatible with our neu- 
trality," or, " importing hostility to Europe." Sir, many things may 
be done which would commit the future peace of this country, and 
vet not amount to an alliance, or a violation of neutrality, or an act of 
hostility to Europe. I have endeavoured to show, and I hope 1 have 
shown, to the satisfaction of the committee, that the measures sug- 
gested by the President himself, have a direct tendency to commit 
the peace of the country, and yet it cannot be said that they consti- 
tute an alliance, or a breach of neutrality, or an act of hostility to Eu- 
rope. The President has given us a practical interpretation of the 
meaning of his declarations upon this subject, by recommending 
measures, whose unquestionable tendency it is to commit the peaee 
of the nation, in certain contingencies, at the very time that he dis- 
claims all intention of entering into alliances, or of doing any thing 
which would be incompatible with our neutrality, or import hostility 
to Europe. Sir, I do not mean to question the integrity and good 
faith of the President's declarations. I am not afraid that he intends 
to deceive us; but the consequences may be equally fatal, if we de- 
ceive ourselves. Let us not shut our eyes against the light, because 
it may disclose to us unwelcome clangers. Let us take the declara- 
tions of the President in the sense in which they were made. Let z/s 
understand them as he understands them ; and, when so understood t 
they afford, in my opinion, no security for the peace of the nation. 

But, it is said, if we have no security in the declarations of the 
President, we have a refuge, which cannot fail us, in the supervising 
power oftl • Senate, over whatever may be done by our Ministers at 
Panama. Sir, in the ordinary case of a treaty, negotiated without 
previous consultation with the Senate, this might be so. In such a 
case the Senate would btfree to act, upon a subject, submitted, for" 
the first time to their consideration, according to the views which the 
occasion might suggest; but, in the present instance, they are con- 
sulted beforehand — they are fully apprised of the objects and views 
with which the mission is instituted — and, with all this information, 
they give it their unqualified sanction. Under, these circumstances, 
would they not stand committed, to ratify any measure which should 
legitimately spring from the objects and views that had been thus 
avowed to them ? I think, sir, they unquestionably would. 

We must, then, in deciding upon the measure submitted to ouf 
consideration, look to its probable and legitimate results, as forming 
a part of the measure itself, and not vainly rely upon any other de- 



m 

partment of the government to avert those results. Sir, this mission 
is ihefirst step, in a new scheme of foreign policy, which, if taken, 
will draw after it the adoption of«the whole system. We are now 
called upon, therefore, to decide, definitively, whether we will give 
our sanction to this new system. It is well known to the members 
of this committee, that there are two distinct plans of policy in re- 
gard to our South American neighbours, each of which has its advo- 
cates and supporters. The one proposes to conduct our intercourse 
with them upon principles of the utmost liberality and kindness, but 
at the same time, to avoid embarrassing " political connexions" with 
them. The other, pretending that it sees some moral and physical 
necessity which binds together in one common fate, the destinies of 
North and South America, aims to unite them, by the ties of a more 
intimate association, under one grand cis-atlantic confederacy, in imi- 
tation of the bright exemplar of the Holy Alliance of Europe ! The 
former is the system of Washington, the Father of his Country — of 
the sages and patriots of the Revolution — of the statesmen of the 
early and purer eras of the Republic. The latter is the system of a 
"new school" of politicians. It is the system adopted by the pre- 
sent Administration, and is presented to us under a specious name, 
appealing at once to the pride of self-love, and the sympathies of an 
imaginary kindred. It is called the American system ! 

Sir, as this American system owes its origin to the present Secre- 
tary of State, I cannot do better than furnish an explanation of it in 
the words of that gentleman himself. In a speech made by him on 
this floor in 1820, he gave us the first outline of this fond conception 
of an American policy , in thefollowingsignificant passages : " What," 
said he, " would I give, could we appreciate the advantages of pur- 
suing the course I propose. It is in our power to create a system of 
which we shall be the centre, and in which all South America will 
act with us." " Imagine the vast power of the two continents, and the 
value of the intercourse between them, when we shall have a popula- 
tion of forty and they of seventy millions. In relation to South 
America, the People of the United States will occupy the same po- 
sition, as the People of New-England do to the rest of the United 
States." " We shall be the centre of a system which would consti- 
tute the rallying point of human freedom against all the depotismof 
the old world. Let us no longer watch the nod of any European 
politician — Let us become real and true Americans, and place our- 
selves at the head of the American system." How freely these prin- 
ciples have been introduced into our diplomacy since the accession 
of the present Secretary to the Department of Foreign Affairs, and 
how effectually they have been instilled by him into the minds of our 
representatives abroad, the following extracts from a despatch of Mr. 
Poinsett, our Minister to Mexico, afford abundant proof : " I first 
objected to the exception in favour of the American nations, for- 
merly Spanish possessions, on the ground, that no distinctions ought 
to be made between any of the members of the great American family ; 
that Great Britain having assented to such a provision, ought not to 
influence the United States, because the Republics of America were 
unitedby one and the same interest, and that it was the interest of the 
European Powers to cause such distinctions to be made, as would 



20 

divide it into small confederacies, and, if possible, to prevent us from 
so niting, as to present one front against the attempts of Europe upon 
cur Republican institution. That it might therefore have been con- 
sidered by the British plenipotentiaries important to lay the founda- 
tion of distinctions, which must disunite us : but that it was much 
more manifestly our interest, that all the States of America should 
be united as intimately as possible — an union which could only exist 
on the basis of the most perfect equality and reciprocity." " To this 
proposal I instantly replied, that I would prefer agreeing- to the arti- 
cle as it stood, rather than consent to be governed by the decision of 
Great Britain; that our interests were separate and distinct; that 
nation formed one of the European Powers, and the United States- 
•were the head of the American Powers ; and that in treaties which 
were intended to strengthen the interests of the latter, no allusion 
ought to be made to those made with the former : Great Britain had 
concluded a treaty with these States, in order to secure a profitable 
commerce with the Americans ; but her interests were European, 
whereas ours were strictly American" '' I then recapitulated the 
course of policy pursued towards the Spanish colonies by our Go- 
vernment, which had so largely contributed to secure their indepen- 
dence and to enable them to take their station among the nations of 
the earth : and declared what further we were ready to do in order to 
defend their rights and liberties, and that this could only be expected 
from us, and could only be accomplished, by a strict union of all the 
American Republics on terms of perfect equality and reciprocity ; 
and repeated that it was the obvious policy of Europe to divide us 
into small confederacies with separate and distinct interests, and as 
manifestly ours to form a single great confederacy, which might op- 
pose one united front to the attacks of our enemies." 

In these passages, the leading principles of the American system 
are so fully developed, the changes are so frequently rung upon all 
its favourite common places, the idea of a strict and intimate -union 
between the nations of North and South America, of the formation of 
them, indeed, " into asingle great confederacy." of which confederacy 
the United States are to be the " head" is so distinctly brought to view 
as to supersede the necessity of any attempt on my part to illustrate 
the true character ot this system. Sir, no one can doubt, after seeing 
the striking coincidence between the passages of Mr. Clay's speech, 
which 1 have read to the committee, and the extracts of Mr. Poin- 
sett's despatch, that the language of the latter to the Mexican Gov- 
ernment, was fully authorized by the former. 

But, sir, this American system is not confined to the Secretary of 
State and his diplomatic pupils. The President himself is a prose- 
lyte ! This system has a peculiar nomenclature of its own. It is dis- 
tinguished by certain cabalistic phrases, which, wherever they are 
used, give infallible signs of its adoption. Of these phrases, the Pre- 
sident has made the most copious use in his message to this House, 
and has, indeed, added some new samples to the original stock. u The 
fraternity of freedom," "sister Republics," (including the Emperor 
of Brazil I suppose ) " nations of this hemisphere" " the Powers of 
America," dance through his pages in " all the mazes" of sentiment- 
al 4k contusion." But, sir, we have still stronger evidence of the Pre- 



21 

aident's conversion to this new system. Finding the Farewell Ad- 
dress of General Washington an obstacle in that path of policy 
which he had determined to pursue, he endeavours to put it aside, 
and remove it out of his way. He does more. He attempts, with 
desperate violence, to break into pieces, and pave with its fragments 
the road he is travelling. He labours to prove, not negatively mere- 
ly, that General Washington's advice does not apply to our present 
condition, but affirmatively, that it recommends to us now, a course 
against which it warned us, at the period when it was given. What 
is the language of the President, sir ? " The acceptance of this invi- 
tation, therefore, far from conflicting with the counsel or policy of 
Washington, is directly deducible from and conformable to it" 

Now, sir, to determine how far this construction of the President's 
can be sustained, let us turn to the advice of General Washington, in 
his own words. The language of that great man, which deserves to 
be as immortal as his fame, was this—" The great rule of conduct for 
us in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial rela- 
tions, to have with them as little political connexion as possible. So 
far as we have already formed engagements let them be fulfilled with 
perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary 
interests which to us have none, or a very remote relation. Hence 
she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which 
are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be 
unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary 
vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions 
of her h iendships and enmities. Our detached and distant situation 
invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one 
People under an efficient government, the period is not far off when 
tve may defy material injury from external annoyance — when we 
may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality, we may at any 
time resolve upon, to be scrupulously respected ; when belligerent 
nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will 
not lightly hazard the_ giving us provocation, when we may choose 
peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel. Why 
forego the advantage of so peculiar a situation ? Why quit our own, 
to stand upon foreign ground .?" 

One would think that language so plain, so clear, so unequivocal, 
could not, by any ingenuity of construction, be tortured into a recom- 
mendation or approval of" political connexions with foreign nations" 
— the very thing against which it warned us. All that the most intre- 
pid commentator could be supposed capable of contending for, (and 
that I hope to show, cannot be successfully maintained,) is that, from 
circumstances which have arisen since the time of Washington, and 
not foreseen by him, his advice no longer applies to our condition, 
and does not, therefore, inhibit, the formation of " political connexions 
with foreign nations," under these new circumstances. But, sir, the 
President takes bolder ground. He says the propriety of these polit- 
ical connexions is directly deducible from " the sound and judicious 
principles," from the " very words of Washington." Now, sir, how 
does the President make out this deduction ? Why, sir, by superin- 
ducing his ewn words upon those of Washington. This passage of 
the President's message is so curious a specimen of criticism and logic 



m 

combined, that I beg leave to call the attention of the committee to it. 
" Compare our situation and the circumstances of that time with 
those of the present day, and what, from the very words of Washing- 
ton then, would be his counsels to his countrymen now ? Europe has 
still her set of primary interests, with which we have little or a re- 
mote relation. Our distant and detached situation with reference to 
Europe, remains the same. But we were then the only independent 
nation of this hemisphere ; and we were surrounded by European 
colonies, with the greater part of which we had no more intercourse 
than with the inhabitants of another planet. Those colonies have now 
been transformed into eight independent nations, extending to our 
very borders. Seven of them Republics, like ourselves, with whom 
Ave have an immensely growing commercial,and must have, and have 
already, important political connexions ; with reference to whom, our 
situation is neither distant nor detached — whose political principles 
and systems of Government, congenial with our own, must and will 
have an action and counteraction upon us and ours, to which we can- 
not be indifferent if we would. The rapidity of our growth, and 
the consequent increase of our strength, have more than realized the 
anticifiations of this admirable political legacy. Thirty years have 
nearly elapsed since it was written : and in the interval, our popula- 
tion, out wealth, our territorial extension, our power, physical and 
moral, has nearly trebled. Reasoning upon this state of things, from 
the sound and judicious firincifiles of Washington, and must we fi not 
say that the period which he predicted as then not far off, has arrived ? 
That America has a set of primary interests, which have none or a 
remote relation to Europe. That the inteference of Europe, there- 
fore, in those concerns, should be spontaneously withheld by her upon 
the same principles, that we have never intefered with hers ; and that, 
if she should interfere, as she may, by measures which may have a 
great and dangerons recoil upon ourselves, we might be called) in 
defence of our own altars and firesides, to take an attitude which would 
cause our neutrality to be respected, and peace or war, as our interest, 
guided by justice, should counsel." 

The President here, after adverting to the rapid growth of the 
United States in wealth and population, since the date of General 
Washington's address, asks, « must we not say that the period which 
Washington predicted as then not far off, has arrived ?" What pe- 
riod is this ? The President goes on to describe it as the period when 
America shall have her set of primary interests, with which Europe 
should not interfere, and if she should so interfere, we might be call- 
ed upon to take an attitude for their defence — at this point, taking up 
again the language of General Washington's address. It would seem, 
from the use here made of General Washington's prediction, that 
he had anticipated the period when America would have her set of 
peculiar interests, and had, in contemplation of that state of things, 
indicated to his countrymen the course of policy which it is now pro- 
posed to pursue. But, Sir, there is nothing of all this in the Fare- 
well Address. The period spoken of by General Washington as not 
far off, was the period when, by our advancement in wealth and pow- 
er, " under an efficient government, we might defy material injury 
from external annoyance," he. General Washington evidently intend- 



23 

eel to ground upon this anticipation an additional argument in favour 
of the policy he had recommended, inasmuch as the ability to defy 
external annoyance, which he had looked forward to as the result of 
our remaining one People under an efficient Government, would place 
us above the necessity of seeking foreign connexions, for the pur- 
pose of strengthening ourselves. But this very anticipation, which 
General Washington had introduced as a strong motive for adhering 
to the policy ©f avoiding " political connexions with foreign nations," 
the President, by a singular metamorphosis, has converted into an in- 
strument for justifying and enforcing a departure from that policy. Sir, 
do not the heavt and the head equally revolt at this perversion of the 
language and reasoning of General Washington ? At the time when 
his Farewell Address was given to the world, we were yet an infant 
People; our numbers thinly scattered over an extensive territory ; 
our finances embarrassed, and our resources, of every sort, impaired 
by the effects of our recent struggle for independence. In this situa- 
tion, there were inducements to court foreign alliances, to aid and 
support us in the event of collisions with the rest of the world. If y 
under these circumstances, when the assistance of powerful friends 
might have been not only beneficial, but necessary to us, Washing- 
Jon yet advised us to steer clear of foreign alliances and connexions 
— with how much more force does his advice apply to our present 
condition — when his anticipations of our national growth, have been 
most amply realized ; when we have already taken such an attitude, 
as to ensure the respect of other nations, when we have proved our- 
selves competent to be our own champions, and the successful defend* 
efs of our oivn rights. > 

The President has, therefore, in my opinion, wholly failed, not only 
in his attempt to prove affirmatively that the advice of Washing- 
ton leads to and approves the formation of the political connexions 
in question, but in his endeavour to maintain the inferior negative 
proposition, that the injunction to avoid such connexions in general, 
does not apply to the particular circumstances of our present condi- 
tion. On the contrary, it is manifest, for the reasons I have just sug- 
gested, that this injunction applies with increased force, to the state 
in which we now are. — It is true that General Washington illustrates 
his advice by reference to European politics, but the advice itself is 
not confined to our relations with Europe. In its spirit and its prin- 
ciples, it is universal and immutable, acknowledging no distinction of 
time or place. In the comprehensive words used by him in a subse- 
quent part of his address, " 'tis our true policy to steer clear of per- 
manent alliances with any portion of the foreign world." — The part- 
ing injunction of the Father of his Country, then, can neither be con- 
strued nor reasoned away. It still continues to admonish us, in its deep 
and impressive tones, against the fatal policy of entangling ourselves 
by " political connexions with foreign nations;" whether young or old, 
whether on this, or the other side of the Atlantic. 

Other arguments must be, and have been invented, to sustain this 
modem American policy. I beg leave, briefly, to notice a few of 
them. We are told, in the first instance, that our own safety, our 
very existence, indeed, requires that we should make common cause 
with the States of Spanish America. The idea entertained by those 



24 

who employ this argument, is, I presume, this : that if the Powers 
of Europe assail the. independence of Spanish America, for the pur- 
pose of reducing it to its former colonial condition, they must do so 
with views, and upon principles, which will carry them forward to 
attempt the conquest of this country. The conquest of the States 
of North America ! Sir, however lightly I may deem of the wisdom 
of the crowned heads of Europe, I cannot suppose that any of them 
are so much under the influence of a disordered imagination, as to 
have indulged such a thought, even in their nightly visions. How 
differently, sir, do the new States of Spanish America, and these 
United States stand, in relation to Europe. The former are infant 
nations of yesterday, scarcely yet freed from their swaddling bands ; 
the mother country still asserts her dominion over them, and is now 
waging war upon them to establish that dominion ; they have been 
recognized by only one Power in Europe, leaving their independence 
still unacknowledged by those Powers, who would in the event sup- 
posed, co-operate with Spain, in bringing them again under subjec- 
tion. We conquered the acknowledgement of our independence, 
now nearly half a century ago, and have since gloriously maintained 
that independence, and the rights we derived from it, in a second 
war with the parent state : in which we contended with her, on the 
footing of her equal, in political rank, and proved ourselves her su- 
perior, in naval and military prowess. During all this period, we 
have maintained diplomatic and commercial relations with all the 
nations of the earth, not as an independent Power merely, but as one 
of the first grade, who had the means of making her friendship 
courted, and her resentment feared. In short, sir, we are as tho- 
roughly incorporated into the political system of the world, as any 
of the older nations of the other hemisphere, and if we had no other 
right to our independence, we might plead a title by prescription* 
The allied sovereigns of Europe, then, however wicked such an en- 
terprise would be, might well assist Spain to reconquer Spanish 
America, upon principles, having no application to us, nor tending 
in any degree to put our independence in jeopardy. Although, 
therefore, I cannot believe that our existence or safety, is bound up 
with the Spanish American States, I am very far from saying, that 
an attack upon them by the combined Powers of Europe, would not 
be a subject of deep interest to this country. Sir, it unquestionably 
would be. The feelings and the interests of the nation might, in 
such an event, demand of us to " put on the armour and to assume 
the attitude of war." But the question is one involving conse- 
quences of too much magnitude to be prejudged, or lightly decided. 
Let us not commit ourselves upon it, by anticipation, but continue, 
as we now are, free to take our course, whenever the question may 
arise, with a full regard to all those considerations which ought to 
influence our determination. 

But, Sir, another argument urged in favour of this political con- 
nexion with Spanish America is, that we owe it to the cause of liberty. 
Sir, in my opinion, we can best advance the cause of liberty by the 
influence of our example, and by presenting to the world the specta- 
«le of a prosperous and happy People, blest in the enjoyment of their 
free institutions. Let us, then, lor the sake of mankind, as well as 
ourselves, attend to our own concerns'— improve the gifts of Prov - 



den'ce, with which Wc have been crowned— perfect and build up our 
political institutions, by every means of amelioration which time and 
experience may supply, that they may remain to our posterity, and 
stand in the eyes of the world, at once. a monument and a model of 
human freedom. Let us, above all things, avoid the danger of being 
drawn into unnecessary foreign wars, which have, in all ages, been 
the grave of republican liberty.— -We do, indeed, owe a solemn re- 
sponsibility to all mankind, in this and future agesj for the fate of the 
experiment of free government, which has been committed to our 
hands. The success of this experiment does, in my opinion, mainly 
depend upon our keeping clear of entangling connexions with other 
People, who may be less blessed with an aptitude and capacity for 
freedom than ourselves, and whose interests or passions might involve 
ub in enterprises foreigh to our sober and peaceful pursuits. Sir, if 
other nations are destined to lose their liberties, let us acquit ourselves 
of the high trust which Providence has devolved upon us, and endea- 
vour to preserve our own ; that one beacon-light, at least, may be 
left to cheer the darkness of the political world, and to guide those 
nations who may have lost their liberties, through that sea of revo- 
lution, upon which they must embark to recover them. 

But, Sir, our sympathy is challenged for our Spanish American 
brethren. One would suppose that their condition no longer present- 
ed a case for sympathy. They have passed through the perilous cri- 
sis of their fortunes, and are now reposing amid triumphs and suc- 
cesses. Their independence is achieved, and the War between them 
and the parent country has ceased in every thing but the name.— But, 
if the case were otherwise, have not the claims of sympathy been 
satisfied to the uttermost, by what we have already done ? We were 
the first to acknowledge their independence, and establish diplomatic 
relations with them, by sending Ministers to their respective Govern- 
ments; and even before we made a formal acknowledgement of their 
independence, (as early as the year 1818,) we applied to Great Bri- 
tain to unite with lis in some act of recognition, and by doing so, gave 
serious umbrage to the allied sovereigns of Europe, then convened in 
Congress at Aix la Chapelle^ Two years ago, a memorable declaration 
was issued in the name of the U. States, which Was supposed to have 
disconcerted hostile designs, at that time, meditated against them by 
these same sovereigns. We have more recently gone from Court to 
Court in Europe pleading their cause, and soliciting intercessions in 
their behalf, and have even urged our expostulations and remon- 
strances with the King of Spain himself, till we obviously provoked 
his resentment at our officiousness. Sir, is there to be no limit to 
our benevolence for these people ? There is a point, beyond which 
even parental bounty and natural affection cease to impose an obliga- 
tion. That point has been attained with the States of Spanish Ame- 
rica. They have received their political patrimonies, and been liber- 
ally established in the world, and they should now take care of what 
they have, and provide for themselves.— Sir, however laudable a virj* 
tue sympathy maybe, in private individuals, it furnishes a fallacious 
and often pernicious rule of conduct for Governments. Governments 
are trustees for the happiness and advantage of those who are subject 
Eo their authority, snd their first and highest duty is to their own 



20 

people. They are not at liberty to engage in enterprises of mere be- 
nevolence on behalf of others, when those enterprises may involve 
consequences detrimental to the interests of the societies, with whose 
welfare they are charged. 

Sir, zjuaitious enthusiasm has been gotten ufi, in regard to Span- 
ish America, which, in my opinion, has no foundation in any just con- 
ception of public duty or national policy. It has not been imbibed 
from the People. On the contrary, it has been forced in the hot-bed 
of our public councils, and all attempts to transplant it into the breasts 
of the People have been signally ineffectual. As this enthusissm 
has exerted its influence chiefly here, I beg leave to read to the com- 
mittee a passage from that veaerable paper, so often appealed to 
upon the present occasion, which seems to have escaped the attention 
of the Executive, who has favoured us with an elaborate commentary 
upon other parts of it — a passage originally addressed to the People, 
but full of instructive admonition to their representatives, and at this 
time particularly applicable to them — " A passionate attachment of 
one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for 
the favourite na{ion,facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common 
interest, in cases where no teal common interest exists, and infusing 
into one the enemities of the other, betrays the former into a participa- 
tion of the quarrels and wars of the latter, without adequate induce- 
ment or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favourite na- 
tion of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the 
nation making the concessions, by unnecessarily parting with what 
ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill will, and a 
disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges arc 
withheld ; and it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens, 
(who devote themselves to the favourite nation) facility to betray or 
sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes 
with even popularity j gilding with the appearances of a virtuous 
sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a 
laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of am- 
bition, corruption, or infatuation." 

Sir, the current event3of the times, furnish so striking a commen- 
tary upon this passage, as to. supersede the necessity of any remarks 
from me, to illustrate or apply it. I commend it to the sober refleo 
tions of the committee. 

Another argument urged in favour ©f the establishment of more 
intimate relations with the Spanish American States is, that, by doing 
so, we shall secure their good will, which is highly important to us, 
i>oth in a commercial and a political view. What success is likely 
to attend this experiment, may be inferred from that which has 
followed our past efforts, of a similar nature. I have already briefly 
alluded to the various offices of kindness, and manifestations of friend- 
ship, which we have exhibited towards these people. With what return 
have they ever met ? Let any gentleman read the late Message of 
the President of Mexico to his Congress, and then let his feelings of 
mortified and indignant pride give the answer. Sir, we have vainly 
imagined that, by the acts of disinterested friendship, and the solid 
and useful services we have rendered our Southern neighbours, we 
had won their gratitude and confidence j that they looked up to us 9$ 



27 

their patron and guide, and regarded us with filial reverence — to use 
the language of a gentleman from Kentucky, (Mr. Metcalfe,) as the 
Mother of Republics But, Sir, this fond delusion is dissipated. The 
Message of the Mexican President begins with celebrating, in the 
most fulsome strains, the power, the wisdom, the magnanimity of 
Great Britain in her transactions with the Spanish American States, 
and distinctly attributes the disconcertion of the schemes of their 
enemies to the interposition of the British trident— which trident was 
never interposed in any other way than by forming commercial rela- 
tions with them, for her own benefit, and, even this was not done till 
three or four years after we had made a formal and explicit acknow- 
ledgment of their independence, in the face of the world. Sir, we 
have, heretofore, supposed, that we had some agency in disconcerting 
the schemes of their enemies, but the Mexican President gives the 
whole credit of the operation to Great Britain. In a subsequent part 
of the Message, the United States are introduced, with a cold formal- 
ity, as " the oldest of the Independent States," with some empty com- 
pliments upon our Revolutionary struggle, and our political insti- 
tutions ; and the fact is admitted, because it could not be disguised, 
that we were the first to acknowledge their independence. But we 
recognize no traces of that ardent devotion, that fervent gratitude, 
that affectionate confidence, which we have been taught to believe 
were cherished in all Spanish American hearts towards us, and of 
Which there are such ample and gratuitous displays towards Great 
Britain. 

Sir, the same unwelcome discovery breaks in upon us in the his- 
tory ©four attempt to negotiate a commercial treaty with Mexico. 
We see our Minister earnestly entreating for equal privileges, with 
the American States of Spanish origin, upon the ground that we are 
a member of the great American family, and that we have rendered 
important services to the cause of Spanish American independence. 
But, the claim is pertinaciously rejected, and the Mexican Govern- 
ment insists upon retaining the power of granting exclusive advan- 
tages to the other Spanish American States, expressly for the pur- 
pose of " evincing her sympathies in their favour" and to our detri- 
ment, of course, in the event of a war (which she ungraciously antici- 
pates) between them and the United States. — If we turn to the his- 
tory of our transactions with the Republic of Colombia, we shall find 
in them, too, reason to apprehend that we have been deceived in re- 
lation to the feelings of that portion of the Spanish American Peo- 
ple towards us. In fixing the basis of our commercial intercourse 
with that Republic, all that we were able to obtain from her was the 
concession of equal privileges with the most favoured nation; In a 
treaty, however, lately negotiated with Great Britain, she puts that 
nation on the footing of her own citizens. It is true, that, by the 
consequential wperation of our treaty, we shall now be invested with 
the same privileges which have been accorded to Great Britain. 
But the difference in the original character of the stipulations evinces 
a partiality, to which our Government cannot be, and has not been, 
insensible Sir, it is impossible to look into the records of our di- 
plomatic communications with the States of Spanish America, and 
not perceive that their minds have too readily imbibed the poison of 



28 

suspicion, in relation to the singleness and disinterestedness of the 
views by which we have been actuated in our conduct towards them. 
The documents in our possession show, that a French emissary at 
Bogota, in 1823, laboured to make the impression that " the United 
States were influenced by interested motives, in recognizing the new 
Governments of Spanish America." This insinuation, however in- 
jurious and unfounded, had its effect, and its influence is discernible 
in all our subsequent intercourse. 

The result of our past efforts, therefore, to conciliate the good 
will and affection of these new States, affords but little ground to 
hope for success in the experiment now proposed. Sir, for myself, 
I do not believe there ever can be any cordial fraternity between us 
and them. The difference of origin, of blood, of physical and 
moral constitution, of language, of manners and customs, of reli- 
gion, as they preclude all congeniality of feeling, must oppose in- 
superable impediments to any intimate political union. From the 
external circumstances, too, in which we are placed, there must 
arise between us, and, indeed, there have already arisen — as in the 
case of Cuba — serious collisions of interest or of ambition. It may 
be said, with fully as much justice as the remark has been applied 
to England and France, that Mexico and the United States, from 
their relative situation, and the position they occupy on the Gulf of 
Mexico, are natural enemies. 

The question then is, whether these elements of discrepancy can 
be mitigated or harmonized by any system of political connexion I 
I think not, Sir. All history proves that confederacies have been 
the fruitful matrix of internal dissentions and domestic feuds. 
How was it, Sir, with the Amphictyonic League of ancient Greece ? 
The jealousies existing between the members of the League, parti- 
cularly Athens and Sparta, its leading members, (which jealousies, 
too, grew out of the relations to one another created by the League 
itself,) involved them in perpetual controversies, and finally led 
to the Peloponnesian war, which terminated in its dissolution. 
Modern Europe affords us an equally instructive lesson. The his- 
tory of the Germanic body, for centuries, is nothing but a history 
of the bloody and cruel wars among the Princes and States which 
composed it. — The scheme of a great American Confederacy , there- 1/ 
fore, instead of affording a remedy for the evils which already exist, 
would but serve to aggravate them. It would itself be the parent 
of new dissentions, which, otherwise, would have no existence. In 
what has occurred, already, the germs of these dissetions are plainly 
distinguishable. We claim to be the head of the American Powers. 
In the beau-ideal of this new planetary system, sketched by Mr. 
Clay, in 1820, we were, indeed, to be, not the orb of first magnitude 
merely, but the centre, around which all the other orbs were to re- 
volve. At one period, our claim to this pre-eminence seemed to be 
acknowledged. When the project of the great American Congress 
was first communicated to this Government, it was intimated that 
the United States were to be invited to preside. But we hear nothing 
of this now. We are only invited, as one among others. In the mean 
time, Colombia takes the lead, and our jealousy is excited in turn, 
as the letter from Mr. Adams to Mr. Forbes, very plainly indicates, 



29 

Here, then, we see the germ of those jealousies which would inevi- 
tably distract and embroil the great American Confederacy, as they 
have every other confederacy which has gone before it. The United 
States and Colombia would be the Athens and the Sparta of this 
Modern Amfihictyonic League, and their rivalry would lead to a Pe- 
loponnesian war far more desolating and tremendous than thai of 
which Grecian annals afford us the account. 

Sir, I confess that I can see in this American system nothing but 
omens of evil. Believing that the Congress of Panama was design- 
ed to pave the way for its introduction, and that our Government— 
the Executive branch of it, I mean — in sending ministers to that 
Congress, intended, and stands committed, to co-operate, especially, 
in two of its objects, which I deem higly dangerous to the peace and 
happiness of the nation, I shall vote for any proposition, which will 
exclude that design and those objects, from the scope" of the mission. 
I have endeavoured to shew that the Executive branch of the Gov- 
ernment is conclusively committed, by their official acts and declara- 
tions to the Spanish American States, in relation to those two ob- 
jects. They are bound by a Gordian knot, which they cannot untie f 
and which we must cut : and if, as my honourable colleague (Mr. 
Powell,) has said, the fate of the present administration is already 
sealed, if they should concur in any measures, at the Congress of 
Panama, committing the peace of the country, they will owe us their 
thanks for extricating them, by our interposition, from the unplea- 
sant dilema in which they are placed. 



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